Thousands of N.S. residents lose power as heavy winds, rain batter province

Thousands of Nova Scotia residents suddenly found themselves in the dark on Sunday morning as heavy winds and rain resulted in power outages throughout the province.
According to Nova Scotia Power’s outage map, some 20,933 homes were without electricity as of 10:24 a.m. Some locations expected to remain without power until later in the evening.
“Crews are responding to outages caused by high winds and rain across the province,” read a social media post from Nova Scotia Power, a privately owned electrical utility that supplies power throughout the province.
Crews are responding to outages caused by high winds and rain across the province. Please visit https://t.co/cKMppFqg0n for updates and estimated restoration times. pic.twitter.com/sD9c35k0Em
— Nova Scotia Power (@nspowerinc) March 24, 2024

Outages have occurred from Yarmouth to Cape Breton, with some locations suffering greater impacts than others.
Nearly 3,500 people are without power in the area surrounding Bridgewater and Mahone Bay, while 56 outages have resulted in 4,955 homes in the Halifax area losing electricity Sunday morning. More than 1,400 residents in Cape Breton are still without power.
The communities surrounding the town of Tusket, located near Yarmouth, were heavily impacted and 2,824 residents remain without power in the small area.
Although most of the heavy winds and rain occurred overnight and wrapped up early Sunday morning, Environment Canada has issued wind warnings for northern and eastern parts of Cape Breton. The weather agency said 80-kilometre-per hour0-winds can be expected in parts of Sydney, Inverness and Victoria County.
“Strong winds that may cause damage are expected or occurring,” the weather update read.
“Loose objects may be tossed by the wind and cause injury or damage. Utility outages may occur.”
Environment Canada said the weather conditions in the area are expected to end by early Sunday afternoon.